The Patriot Post® · Monday Top News Executive Summary
TROLL MASTER “President Trump said Friday his administration is ‘giving strong considerations’ to a controversial plan that would release migrants into so-called sanctuary cities, even though officials said the idea was never seriously considered. In a pair of tweets, Trump accused Democrats of being ‘unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws’ and suggested they should feel the consequences of what he has called the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.” (The Hill)
TEMPORARY BORDER SANITY: “The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of President Trump on Friday when it determined that the government can at least temporarily continue to send asylum-seekers back to Mexico. The asylum program was scheduled to be shut down at midnight under an order from District Judge Richard Seeborg, but the White House requested that the appeals court intervene. The 9th Circuit temporarily stayed the lower court’s ruling as the parties get ready to submit their arguments next week on the government’s request for a longer stay that would likely last months.” (The Hill)
BUTTIGIEG MAKES IT OFFICIAL “Pete Buttigieg, the little-known Indiana mayor who has risen to prominence in the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential race, made his official campaign entrance Sunday by claiming the mantle of a youthful generation ready to reshape the country,” the Associated Press reports. “Some polls put him behind only Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who sought the party’s nomination in 2016, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who has not yet said he’s running.”
TRUMP’S IMPRESSIVE WAR CHEST: According to Fox News, “President Trump’s re-election campaign raised $30.3 million in the first quarter of this year, far pacing the leading fundraisers among the Democrats.” The average donation was $34.26, and 99% of all contributions consisted of $200 or less. “In all, the campaign had $40.8 million cash on hand, an unprecedented war chest for an incumbent president this early in the campaign. Trump’s fundraising ability was matched by the Republican National Committee, which brought in $45.8 million in the first quarter — its highest non-election year total.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS’ NEW IRS ULTIMATUM: “House Democrats are giving the Trump administration a hard deadline of April 23 to turn over the president’s tax returns. … Legal experts have suggested that an outright denial of their request by [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin could be followed by subpoenas or a lawsuit in federal court. Mnuchin so far has only postponed responding to Democrats’ request and said he would confer with the Justice Department, but he has not yet rejected it.” (The Washington Post)
CULTURE OF DEATH GROWS: “New Jersey became the eighth state in the country to legalize assisted suicide on Friday. Democratic governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that will allow doctors to prescribe lethal doses of medicine to patients who have been diagnosed as terminally ill.” (The Washington Free Beacon)
NORTH KOREA TIMETABLE: Via The Hill: “North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has laid down an end-of-year marker for the United States to agree to terms for a nuclear deal while signaling he may agree to a third summit with President Trump. Kim said that he will wait ‘till the end of this year’ for the U.S. to decide to be more flexible in negotiations. … Kim called offers floated by the U.S. ‘absolutely impractical,’ arguing that the administration did ‘not really ready itself to sit with us face-to-face and settle the problem.’”
SICKENING OUTCOME: “The U.S. Justice Department won’t appeal a decision by a Detroit federal judge who threw out female genital mutilation charges against members of a Muslim sect. Solicitor General Noel Francisco calls it an ‘especially heinous practice.’ But in a letter to Congress, he says the law needs to be changed to be constitutional under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. Judge Bernard Friedman in November said the law was unconstitutional because Congress didn’t have power to regulate genital mutilation. … Dr. Jumana Nagarwala was accused of performing genital mutilation on nine girls at a suburban Detroit clinic.” (WXYZ Detroit)
HUMOR: Comey: “We did not spy — we just observed and reported secretly without the subject’s knowledge or consent” (The Babylon Bee)
POLICY: In one chart, how your taxes are spent (The Daily Signal)
POLICY: The fault lines behind the Trump-Moon summit (Hudson Institute)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.